Technology Trump: Chip manufacturers should produce in the USA
US President Donald Trump has called on the chip industry to relocate more production to the USA. "Taiwan has taken the chip business away from us," said Trump in the White House. "And if they don't bring it back, we're not going to be very happy," he warned.
14.02.2025, 03:32
SDA
US chip manufacturers such as Intel once laid the foundations of the industry. However, state-of-the-art chips in particular are now mainly produced in Taiwan - even if they are developed in the USA. Industry experts attribute this change in part to the fact that the authorities have been luring manufacturers with generous subsidies for several decades.
The major concern in the West is that the supply of smartphone chips, for example, would collapse if the Chinese government were to seal off Taiwan.
Trump does not like Biden's chip subsidies
Trump's predecessor Joe Biden therefore launched a subsidy program worth almost 40 billion dollars to create incentives for chip production in the USA. Europe followed suit with similar plans. During the election campaign, Trump criticized the plan as a waste of money and signaled that he would prefer to focus on tariffs instead.
"We had Intel, we had these great companies that were doing so well - and that was taken away from us and we want that business back," said Trump. Intel has been trying for years to catch up with Taiwanese market leader TSMC in terms of production processes. Most recently, company boss Pat Gelsinger had to resign after the race to catch up dragged on. In Europe, Intel put the construction of a new factory in Magdeburg, for which billions in government support had also been promised, on hold due to tight finances.
